Senate Appropriations Committee Approves $385 Million for LSC

Thursday, June 11, 2015

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved $385 million for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in FY 2016. This amount represents a $10 million increase over LSC’s current funding and is $85 million more than the House approved last week.

"I want to thank Subcommittee Chairman Richard Shelby, Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, and the members of the committee for their bipartisan support for increasing LSC funding over current levels," said LSC Board Chairman John G. Levi. "We are hopeful that significant additional funds will be provided as the process moves forward."

Funding for LSC is included in the $51.1 billion FY 2016 Senate Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Subcommittee appropriations bill. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who is ranking member on both the committee and subcommittee, offered an amendment to increase the bill’s overall funding by $2.78 billion, including a $67 million hike for LSC. The amendment, which would have boosted LSC’s allocation to the $452 million level requested by the White House, was defeated in a party-line vote of 16-14.

"We are very grateful for Senator Mikulski’s continued support and for her effort to increase LSC’s funding to $452 million," said LSC President Jim Sandman. "We want to also thank Senators Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and Chris Murphy from Connecticut for their comments in support of LSC."

The bill now moves to the full Senate for consideration.

Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is an independent nonprofit established by Congress in 1974 to provide financial support for civil legal aid to low-income Americans. The Corporation currently provides funding to 134 independent non-profit legal aid programs in every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.